SAMR Published Over 8,000 Fraud and False Advertising Corrective Cases of Food and Health Food

From
July 2017, 9 departments including the Food Safety Office of the State Council carried
out food and health food fraud and false advertising corrective action in China.
On May 3, 2018, State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) published the
fraud and false advertising corrective cases of food and health food over the
country.

By
March 2018, food and drug regulatory authorities at all levels handled and published
more than 8,000 administrative punishment cases related to the corrective
actions. CIRS made a statistics on the cases of food and health food fraud and
false advertising in 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. The
details are as follows:

1. The number of corrective cases in each provinces,
municipalities and autonomous regions

S/N

Regions

No.

S/N

Regions

No.

1

Guangdong

1242

16

Tianjin

161

2

Shandong

966

17

Szechwan

150

3

Gansu

955

18

Qinghai

137

4

Yunnan

496

19

Henan

123

5

Jiangsu

413

20

Jilin

122

6

Hubei

395

21

Peking

92

7

Jiangxi

353

22

Inner Mongolia

84

8

Hainan

331

23

Heilongjiang

76

9

Shanghai

287

24

Zhejiang

71

10

Shaanxi

278

25

Guizhou

47

11

Shanxi

263

26

Liaoning

39

12

Fujian

247

27

Hebei

18

13

Guangxi

245

28

Ningxia

11

14

Hunan

228

29

Chongqing

6

15

Anhui

166

30

Sinkiang

5

2. The number of corrective cases in each month

The
figure above shows that from July 2017 to November 2017, the number of corrective
cases increased month by month, which means the intensity of corrective action
was gradually increased. After December 2017, the number of corrective cases decreased
month by month, it can be seen that the corrective action had brought positive
effect.

3. The situation of health food corrective cases

According to CIRS's statistics, among
all corrective cases, there are 276 cases related to health food fraud and
false advertising. The main reasons are shown in the following figure:

The
main reason for the health food corrective cases is “health food production and
operation activities without permission”. Before engaged in health food
production and operation activities, the enterprises shall apply for relevant
food production license and food operation license under local FDA according to
"Administrative Measures on Food Production Licensing" and "Administrative Measures on Food Operation Licensing ". In
addition, the label and instruction problems are also serious. As
the SAMR management on health food label and instruction become more and more
strict, enterprises shall generate the product label and instruction in
accordance with relevant laws and regulations strictly. On the other hand,
health food can't replace medicine, enterprises should carry out product
function advertising based on the truths, and avoid using false and exaggerated
content.

It is
reported that SAMR and local FDA will continue to crack down on food and
health food fraud and false advertising behaviors, and disclose the corrective
information to public, to ensure the food safety. Therefore, enterprises should
pay attention to relevant laws and regulations in China, bear the main responsibility
and ensure that the products conform to the requirements of China.

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